Office of the Mental Health Advocate

The Office of the Mental Health Advocate (OMHA) was created by statute in 1996 to provide services to attorneys representing criminal defendants with mental health challenges. OMHA monitors cases in Georgia involving pleas of Not Guilty by Reason of Insanity (NGRI) and it directly represents a limited number of insanity acquittees. We provide services state-wide as a way of assisting attorneys, the hospitals, and the courts in criminal cases involving mentally ill defendants.